


Sanvers Week

by allthegayfeels



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-15 21:57:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11240073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthegayfeels/pseuds/allthegayfeels
Summary: Day 1: Intimacy - just a lil fluffy convo b/w these twoDay 2: Nerd GirlfriendsDay 3: You're DrunkDay 4: HogwartsDay 5: Domestic





	1. Chapter 1

“Taking me home to meet the family already?” Maggie asked with a smirk and Alex rolled her eyes. 

“You’ve already met my mom and Kara. This is just a weekend away to relax. I think we deserve it.” 

Maggie was surprised at how relaxing Eliza’s house could be. Unlike National City, there were no car horns, no fights spilling out of a bar, no loud sounds at all overtaking the landscape; instead the only sounds from outside were the rush of the waves and the distant caw of seagulls as they circled to land. Eliza was quick with a hug or a compliment but otherwise gave the couple the space they needed to lose themselves in one another. 

After the pair finished cleaning up after dinner, they found themselves staring at one another intently from the across the kitchen, their gaze never wavering until Alex broke the silence. 

“Come on,” she said, motioning outside. “Let’s go for a walk.” 

Alex guided them out to the beach, walking along the water’s edge, leaving the setting sun over their left shoulders. She reached out with her right hand and grabbed Maggie’s left hand, their fingers sliding together seamlessly. 

Alex smiled at Maggie, “my pinkie always has to be on the outside.” 

Maggie looked down at their intertwined hands. “My pinkie needs to be on the inside. It feels weird otherwise.” 

Alex readjusted their fingers so Maggie’s pinkie was the last. “Oh my god, you’re right! That’s terrible! How do you stand your finger being second to last??” 

Maggie laughed. “How do I stand it? How do you stand it with your finger outside?” 

“There,” Alex said, readjusting their fingers. “Back to normal.” A pause. “Isn’t it great that one of us is a pinkie-out person and the other one is pinkie-in? We’re such a good match.” 

Maggie gave a small chuckle and repeated something she’d told her before. “See, I told you we were right for each other.” 

They walked until they reached the end of the beach, where a small peninsula jutted out into the water. They hiked over the rocky outcrop to the water’s edge and watched the last of the sun’s rays dance across the water. 

Maggie sat with her back against a tall rock and Alex sat between her knees with her back resting against her girlfriend’s chest. Maggie slid her arms around Alex’s waist and they sat in a comfortable silence. 

Finally, Maggie spoke. 

“I bet you came here a lot when you were young.” 

Alex nodded. “I spent as much time here as I could.” 

“Did you ever bring any cute boys here?” Maggie teased. 

“No, this place was just for me,” she murmured, obviously deep in thought.

Maggie ran one hand up and down one of Alex’s arms gently and sat quietly, giving her the time and space she seemed to need. It took a minute for her to gather her thoughts. 

“You know, I never thought I’d have any of this.” 

“Any of what?” Maggie asked softly. 

“This. A relationship. Someone I connect with. I wasn’t kidding when I said I thought I wasn’t built for it. I just – I dunno,” she faltered momentarily. “When my friends started getting boy crazy in middle school, I just thought I was too busy with other things, with sports and school, and that I’d get there eventually. And then in high school, I thought I was too busy with school and a new sister and grieving my dad. But that’s when I started having a “fake it til you make it” motto you know?” She turned slightly to look back at Maggie, who agreed with a slight smile. 

“And the same in college. No matter who I dated, and how often I thought it would eventually turn into something, it just didn’t. And I couldn’t figure out why. So by the I got to grad school, I’d pretty much given up.” 

“Yeah, I felt like that, too,” Maggie answered. “I mean, not the same thing, obviously. But after my dad kicked me out, I just couldn’t picture a happy ending for myself. I had never seen someone like me get to live happily ever after, not on TV and certainly not in Blue Springs, Nebraska.” 

She rested her chin on Alex’s shoulder before she continued. “I guess I was the opposite. I dated a lot. I think I was trying to fill in the empty spaces inside with someone else, but I don’t think relationships work that way. Not healthy ones, anyway. I think each person needs to stand on their own, ready to hold the other up when they need it, but we can’t mold someone else into the shapes of our broken pieces. We have to learn to do that on our own.” 

She paused and looked out to the water. 

“Maybe that’s why I’ve been so focused on work, trying to make it fill in empty spaces, too.” 

Alex brought Maggie’s arms around her tighter. “Yeah, I guess I did the same thing, always being so focused on school and my job. I remember once early in grad school, right after I’d decided I wasn’t made for dating, just thinking that for the rest of my life, I’d come home from work to an empty apartment and maybe a dog. I’d check my voice mail, walk the dog, then fall asleep alone in bed. And that makes me sad now, you know? Because it isn’t what I wanted, but I just accepted that I couldn’t have a partner. That there was something wrong with me for not being able to make it work with anyone. 

And I guess it scares me a little, too. I mean, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. And yet, I was so close to never finding it. So close to never finding you.” 

“I don’t think that’s true,” Maggie said. “I think we were always meant to be written into the same story. We were bound to cross paths eventually.” 

Alex turned again to look at Maggie. “Do you think that’s true?” 

Maggie nodded. “Yeah, I do. What we have is too good to be left to chance.”


	2. Chapter 2 - Nerd Girlfriends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s helpful (though not mandatory) to be familiar with “To His Coy Mistress,” a 17th century poem about getting laid. It famously starts, “had we but world enough and time,” which is of course now an expression meaning “life is short, don’t wait,” but I think it is more powerful (and more interesting) when used with sexual innuendo, since that is the original context of the phrase when it was coined in the poem. Shoutout to horny 17th century poets.

Maggie sat with her legs stretched on the ottoman, halfway watching something on TV, her hand mindlessly stroking Alex’s hair. Alex was laying with her head in Maggie’s lap, flipping through an old poetry book of hers that she’d found at Eliza’s.

She read poetry differently – hell, she saw everything differently – now that she’d met Maggie. For the first time, she understood why nearly every movie seemed to revolve around a love story, why every song, every sonnet, seemed to be about two people finding one another.

Maggie’s attention focused back on Alex as she continued to run her hands through her hair and watched her concentrate intently on the words on the page. “What are you reading?” she asked quietly, trying to interrupt her as gently as possible.

Alex finished reading, then lifted the book above her so Maggie could read. “A love poem. Here, take a look.”

Maggie looked down and read aloud. 

_“True love. Is it normal_  
_is it serious, is it practical?_  
_What does the world get from two people_  
_who exist in a world of their own?”_

Alex stopped her there. “That made me think of us. Sometimes it feels like we’re in a world of our own, like a cocoon of our own making. It’s like when we’re together, the rest of the world falls away, you know?”

Maggie smiled down softly. “Yeah, I know.”

“Keep reading.”

Maggie lifted Alex’s head and shifted so she was lying next to her, her arm wrapped around Alex’s stomach, cuddling into her body as they looked at the book together.

 _“Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason,_  
_drawn randomly from millions but convinced_  
_it had to happen this way – in reward for what?_  
_For nothing.”_

Maggie paused and raised her eyebrows. “Wow, she’s awfully cynical there, huh?”

 _“Look at the happy couple._  
_Couldn’t they at least hide it,_  
_fake a little depression for their friends’ sake?”_

Maggie laughed and thought of the comments their friends made at the bar when they were together. “I’m sure Winn would be happy if we toned in down a little.” 

_“True love. Is it really necessary?_  
_Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence_  
_like a scandal in Life’s highest circles._  
_Perfectly good children are born without its help._  
_It couldn’t populate the planet in a million years,_  
_it comes along so rarely.”_

At that, Maggie actually laughed out loud. “Yeah, I guess the two of us couldn’t exactly populate the planet on our own, could we?”

Alex gave her a playful push. “Stop being so literal!”

“I know, I know, but I can’t help it” she chuckled at her own joke. “So the author is skeptical that true love exists. It’s like she thinks the people who believe in it are fooling themselves. That the universe is too random to bring two people together, too chaotic for true love to have any meaning. What kind of love poem is this??”

“You have to finish it! Read the rest.”

 _“Let the people who never find true love_  
_keep saying that there’s no such thing._

_Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.”_

__

Maggie smiled as she got the meaning of the poem and looked up again. “Wow, that’s beautiful.” A pause. “But, like, really dark at the same time,” she added, laughing.

__

__

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“Yeah,” Alex began thoughtfully. “I like how the author captures it. Like, fate bringing together two people for something special doesn’t make any sense in this crazy world, but when it happens, only the people in the relationship can really know it, understand it. I’d like to think it wasn’t so uncommon, but there’s something about feeling like you’re the only one in the world who understands how it feels.”

__

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Maggie intertwined their fingers as Alex was trying to find the words she was looking for.

__

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“I just… see the world so differently now,” she said, playing with Maggie’s fingers to give her something to focus on. “The movies, the songs. I mean, I’m reading my poetry books from high school – and by the way, never tell Winn that – I don’t know what’s happening to me! 

__

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A few weeks ago I reread this poem I’d read in high school by e.e. cummings…”

__

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“e.e. what now?” Maggie interrupted.

__

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Alex actually snorted. “Are you serious? You can’t let any opportunity for a dirty double entendre pass by, can you?”

__

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“Not to save my life.”

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Alex rolled her eyes and Maggie gave her a quick kiss. “Anyway, I reread this poem by you know who called _i carry your heart with me_. And I think about that now when I’m out on a mission. 

__

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_i carry your heart with me i am never without it i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)._

__

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I mean, when I read that in high school, I thought it was so cheesy. Like, it’s so silly to wrap yourself up so completely in someone else, but I don’t see it that way now. It’s just… another reason to live, to come back alive. Because it’s not just about me anymore. It’s about you. It’s about us, together. And I dunno, I just… I just want to reread all the poetry now, to see what I missed the first time around.”

__

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Maggie kissed her cheek softly, then moved to her mouth. “All the poetry huh?”

__

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“Mmhmm,” Alex agreed and Maggie kissed her again, bringing her hands to her face and slowly deepening the kiss. She pulled away and gave Alex a sly smile.

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“Ah, but _if there were but world enough and time_ for that…” she began, kissing Alex again and shifting so she was on top of her. _“…this coyness, lady, were no crime…”_

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Alex smiled, wrapping her arms around Maggie’s neck, still holding the book in her hand. “Are you coming on to me? And coming onto me with a poem about getting laid?”

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Maggie didn’t answer, just kept reciting parts of the poem between kisses. 

__

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“Something something _an hundred years should go to praise”_

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She moved her kisses up Alex’s jaw.

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_“Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze”_

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She kissed down her jaw, her neck. 

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_“Two hundred to adore each breast…”_

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She moved down further still, to her chest, where her tank top met skin.

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“something something I forget the rest…” 

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Alex laughed as Maggie finished the poem, slightly impressed that while she clearly forgot the words, she at least managed to make her ending rhyme.

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“I can’t believe this is your tactic. I can’t even believe you memorized that poem. Or halfway memorized it, I guess.”

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“How do you think I got laid in college?”

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Alex laughed again. “Did it actually work then?”

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Maggie shrugged with a small smile. “Not really. Is it working now?”

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Alex dropped her book on the floor and narrowed her eyes at Maggie, pulling her closer. “I guess it was bound to work eventually.”

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	3. Day 3 - You're Drunk

She’d stumbled up the stairs to her childhood bedroom and had just fallen into bed when she heard a loud THUMP, following a few seconds later by a crash. She sat up fast and tried to focus her eyes on the figure that had just fallen through her window. “What the hell… Maggie??”

“Danverssss!” Maggie somehow whisper-yelled back at her.

“Maggie, I literally left you like five minutes ago. What are you doing up here?”

“Alex, did you know there’s a treehouse out here?”

“Yeah, I helped my dad build that treehouse. Of course I know it’s there.”

“Come on, you don’t want our bachelorette party night to end, do you? Let’s go.”

It was the night before their wedding and they had found the perfect spot on the beach behind Eliza’s house to get married. It was going to be a small and intimate ceremony, but the superfriends had nonetheless insisted on giving them a proper joint bachelorette party, or as close as they could get to one in Midvale.  


Since the whole affair was turning into something fairly traditional, they agreed to sleep separately and not see one another until they met to walk down the aisle together. Once they’d returned home from the bar, they parted at the bottom of the stairs, with Alex going up to her old bedroom and Maggie sleeping in the guest room downstairs.

At least, that had been the plan until she crawled up through Alex’s window and fallen on her floor.

“Go where?”

“The treehouse! Look, I grabbed a bottle of scotch from your mom’s liquor cabinet. We’ll take it up with us.”

“Scotch? Maggie, you’re drunk already.”

“Pfft, just a little bit. Come on, I have to show you this tree house,” she said, taking her hand and leading her through the door.

“Show me the treehouse? I built it,” Alex muttered to herself, shaking her head and letting Maggie lead her downstairs and out to side yard where the treehouse sat high in an old beech tree.

“After you, my lady” Maggie said chivalrously, pointing her arms to the ladder to allow Alex to climb up first.

“No, I think I had a few less shots at the bar. You go up first so I can catch you if you fall.”

Maggie smiled. “Such a gentlewoman. See you up there.”

When Alex had climbed up, she found Maggie reaching her hand out to help her off the ladder.

“How did you find this anyway?” Alex asked.

Maggie walked to the center of the room with Alex’s hand still in hers, looking in every direction to take in all the little details they’d so carefully built in.

“After you went upstairs, I went outside to get some fresh air, and once I saw it, I knew we needed to come up.”

She pulled two shot glasses out of her jacket pocket and placed them on the little table next to the bottle of scotch she’d brought up. She filled each glass and handed one to Alex.

“Come on, all those others at the bar were for everyone else. This one is just for you and me.”

“Ok, but this is the last one. We are getting married tomorrow, you know.”

Maggie smiled even bigger. “Damn right we are,” she said, leaning over to give Alex a small kiss, though Alex detected something other than happiness behind Maggie’s eyes. “Bottoms up.”

They downed the scotch and Maggie pulled her to the other side of the room, into an old beanbag chair, and cuddled up into her side.

Alex was surprised at how quiet Maggie suddenly was and how her muscles seemed to stiffen, which was unlike her, especially when she was a few shots deep.

“You know,” she started with a voice much quieter than before. “I had a treehouse I built with my dad, too.”

“Oh, Maggie,” Alex said gently, shifting so she could look down at her face. “Is that what this is all about? Your parents not being here for your wedding?”

Maggie brought her eyes, sad but not crying, up to meet Alex’s.

“It’s fine,” she said softly. “Really. It’s fine. But something about us being out tonight and celebrating our wedding, surrounded by only your family, other than my aunt and uncle. I guess I’m just a little sadder about it than I expected to be.”

“Did you think about telling them?” Alex asked.

Maggie shook her head. “No, it honestly never crossed my mind. You know, for the first couple of years after they kicked me out, I used to cry all the time. I couldn’t think about it – or about them – without just breaking down and sobbing.

And then at some point, my sadness turned to anger. Like, rage even. And I think I needed that. I needed the anger to protect my heart from being broken all the time. I was angry at the world, and especially them, and everything that I did right I did just to throw it in their faces. I studied so hard in school to get into a good college and get a scholarship, just so I could show them I could do it without them. I trained as hard as I could at sports, so when my name was in the local paper for winning my track meets, they would see it and know that I wasn’t a failure and a disappointment, and that they were missing out.

I used to have these silly like, revenge fantasies almost. Like, they’d see that I was state champion at the 200-meter dash – did I ever tell you that?”

Alex smiled and shook her head.

“I thought they’d see it and show up some time, apologize and tell me how proud they were, and I was going to ignore them,” she said sadly.

She looked back up at Alex and her eyes were steady but her voice still cracked a bit when she continued, “and I’d be the one to breaks their hearts this time.”

Alex sighed, realizing the heavy burden Maggie had been carrying all this time, though she rarely seemed to show it. “I’m sorry, Maggie,” was all she could think to say.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Really. I mean, I carried that anger with me for a long time. Years. And then I read this quote somewhere that said something like, ‘the opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference. If you hate me, it means you still care.’ And I realized that by hating them, I was still caring. I was giving them a power over me that they didn’t deserve.”

She shrugged.

“I just realized that I have a life to live, and I don’t have time to pour emotions into people who aren’t interested. And, it took some time, but I did manage to become indifferent to them. Mostly at least. I eventually stopped caring that they didn’t call on my birthday. Eventually I would sometimes forget theirs, although I always remember at some point soon after.

I just realized that I couldn’t move forward with the life I wanted to live if I had the weight of their rejection on my shoulders. So I let it go, as much as I could. But it still comes up occasionally. Valentine’s Day is the worst of it. And getting married, obviously, because here I am, sad about it the night before my wedding.”

Alex pulled her closer.

“I think it’s okay to be sad about it. Maybe you always will be. But I’m here, and I’m your family now.”

“I know. And I’m happy to be joining your family, your mom, Kara, all our friends. It’s like, another step past their rejection, another step in moving on with my own life. And who knows, maybe someday we’ll have a family of our own.”

Alex smiled. “Maybe so.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes, both more sober than when they’d started, but both pretty tired as the night had drifted on.

Finally, Alex spoke. “You know, the hell with traditions. Let’s sleep cuddled up together tonight.”

“Yeah?” Maggie asked.

“Yeah. And let’s just sleep here. These treehouses, they represent our past. But we’re each other’s future. Let’s just sleep here tonight and greet tomorrow together.”

Maggie cuddled Alex closer. “That sounds perfect.”


	4. Chapter 4 - Hogwarts

There was a decidedly more adult air about the cabin of this particular journey on the Hogwarts Express. Instead of shuttling young witches and wizards off to school, the train was overstuffed with adults – laughing and reminiscing – back to Hogwarts for alumni weekend.

Loud laughter spilled out of the first compartment when the trolley witch opened the door. “Anything off the trolley, dears?” 

“Yes!” Alex exclaimed a little too loudly, as the group of friends had started their day at the hotel bar attached to King’s Cross. “We’ll start with shots of firewhiskey and… give us a round of rum and pumpkin juice to go along with it. Please.”

The witch sitting next to her holding her hand pointed to Kara. “And she’ll take all the pumpkin pasties you have.” Maggie turned to rest of the compartment and continued, “I always have plenty of gold in my pocket when Kara is with us.”

Winn piped up, “you guys, let’s get some chocolate frogs, too, just like we did the first time we were on the train together!”

James laughed, threw up his hands up in mock embarrassment, and asked for chocolate frogs for everyone.

When the witch moved on the next compartment with her trolley considerably lighter, Maggie let go of Alex’s hand to raise her shot glass. “To going home,” she said.

Everyone gave her a smile, knowing that Hogwarts was the first place she truly felt at home. After her dad had kicked her out of the house, the castle was the only place where she could truly be home; the family she made there was the one who loved her for exactly who she was instead of who they wanted her to be.

“To going home,” the rest of the group repeated, holding their glasses aloft and knocking back the firewhiskey in one go.

“Shit, that burns,” Vasquez choked out, shaking her head a little.

“Wait, Susan, you’re the one who brewed your own beer in the first-floor girls’ bathroom in our fifth year!” Kara exclaimed.

“And used that aging potion to make yourself look old enough to buy firewhiskey in Hogmeade,” added James.

She grabbed Lucy’s hand and smiled, “yeah well we’re an old married couple now, we don’t do that kind of thing much anymore.”

Lucy smiled back before turning towards the group. “Did I ever tell you guys that Susan and I used to sneak out of the castle through that passageway behind the suit of armor that leads to the Shrieking Shack?”

“What??” Winn said incredulously. “Lucy, you were Head Girl! I can’t believe you snuck out like that!”

Lucy raised her eyebrows and gave a wicked grin. “Why do you think the Shack got so loud again our seventh year?” 

Vasquez flushed with embarrassment as the cabin exploded with shouts and whoops from the friends.

“Wait, guys, check this out!” Winn shouted excitedly as he pointed to the card in his hand. “Alex! You’re on the chocolate frog card!”

“Pffftt, no way,” she said, waiving him off.

“I’m serious! Listen to this: ‘Famous for discovering a thirteenth of dragon’s blood, for her bravery fighting dark wizards, and for her Herbology work cross-pollinating breeds of plants to create new, protective species, Alex Danvers achieved the rank of both Auror and Healer by age 25. When she’s not riding her flying motorcycle, she enjoys jumping off buildings and has the world’s record for holding her breath underwater.’”

Maggie beamed with pride. “Babe! That’s amazing. Let’s see what picture they used.” She looked down at the card to see a picture of her wife, her head turned to the side and winking, smiling back up at her.

By the time they got into the castle, they were all considerably more sober, the trolley witch having long since sold out of her stores of both drinks and snacks (thanks to a third round by Kara).

They mingled in the Great Hall, catching up with old friends and former teachers before they decided to take a nostalgic walk through the halls.

They walked hand in hand until a familiar portrait – of one woman serenading another, clearly in love – brought back certain memories for Maggie.  
“Babe, do you realize how long it’s been since we had sex in this castle?”

“Maggie! Shhh! Someone could hear you.”

“Relax, Alex, no one is around.” She looked around to confirm that she was right and pushed Alex gently against a wall, leaning her body close. “Come on, just once for old times’ sake?”

Alex laughed. “Oh yeah, and where do you propose we do this?”

Maggie’s eyes narrowed as her expression slowly changed from a slight smirk into a wide, knowing grin.

Alex understood immediately.

“No. Way.”

“Yes.”

“No. No. We are not using the Room of Requirement to have sex in this castle!”

Maggie raised her eyebrows and grabbed Alex by the hand, pulling her into a slight run. “The hell we’re not.”

Maggie practically skipped all the way to the seventh floor, pulling Alex by the hand, stopping in front of the familiar tapestry on the wall opposite of their destination.

“Do you want to open it or should I?” Maggie asked. 

“I can’t fucking believe we’re even considering this.”

“Okay, well I guess it’ll be me then.” Clearing her throat and taking a step away from Alex, Maggie closed her eyes and focused on what they needed. She mumbled under her breath and walked back and forth three times in front of the empty wall until a door appeared out of nowhere. Maggie turned the knob and opened it, motioning for Alex to go in. “After you.”

Alex looked around expectantly as she entered the room, surprised that it was smaller than she’d ever seen it before. The lights were low and a king bed sat in the middle of the far wall, covered with thick cotton sheets and an army of pillows. “Wow, the castle really wants us to get laid,” she remarked.

“Um, yeah,” Maggie said, pointing to a small bedside table covered with various accessories. “I think the castle really wants us to get laid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I balked at Hogwarts smut, which was the original plan. Just couldn't do it. But here's the lead up to it.


	5. Chapter 5: Domestic

Maggie sat on the park bench watching Elena tear around the playground. At barely three, her legs were a little wobbly but she was still able to navigate the entire small play structure on her own. 

Alex had had some trouble getting pregnant but once she did, the pregnancy ran smoothly and their little girl was amazing. She was a carbon copy of Alex, from her crooked smile to her brilliant mind, and she was the light of their lives.

Noticing she had been playing alone for awhile, she ran over to Maggie for reassurance; a quick hug and a “te amo” from her mom and she was running back to climb back up the short stairs to the slide.

A woman sitting at the next bench gave her a small smile.

“Mommy!” Elena yelled, as Alex walked up to greet her.

“Hey baby!” Alex cried back, giving her a hug before she ran back off to play. “Just a few more minutes until and then we’ll get ice cream, okay?”

Alex sat down by Maggie on the bench. “Sorry I’m late, paperwork took longer than expected. I told Elena we have to go in just a few minutes.”

Maggie nodded. “Look at her, she’s really getting the hang of the steps.”

They both stared off at their daughter until the woman sitting at the next bench addressed Alex.

“Your daughter is so beautiful,” she said smiling.

Alex returned her smile. “Thank you.”  
“And this one,” the woman indicated toward Maggie. “You’re so lucky to have found her.”

Alex smiled bigger. “Yeah, I think so, too.”

“Where did you find her?”

Alex laughed at the question. “Well, I picked her up at the airport, actually.”

The woman shook her head. “Well I’m sure you did. But where did you actually find her?”

Alex cocked her head at the question, but Maggie just looked down, knowing where this was going and wondering if it was worth it to set this woman straight. 

“Um… no really, the airport.”

“You’re so lucky,” the woman continued. 

“I mean, to have someone who speaks English and Spanish so fluently. That’s not so easy to find. Your daughter will have such an advantage.”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “I guess that’s true. We’re glad she’s growing up bilingual.” 

She looked at Maggie, not noticing that Maggie’s eyes couldn’t quite meet her own.

“Well,” the woman began, rising to her feet. “It was lovely meeting you. I’ve seen your daughter here before, but not you. Maybe I’ll see you again soon?”

Alex smiled. “Maybe. Have a good day.”  
Alex watched Elena climb for another minute, then turned to Maggie. “We should probably get go…” She paused as Maggie’s eyes finally met hers. “What?”

“Do you not know what just happened here?” Maggie asked, astonished.

“Um, a stranger complimented my wife and daughter?”

“No, a stranger complimented your daughter. And your choice in nannies.”

“What?” Alex asked again, genuinely confused.

“She thought I was the fucking nanny, Alex.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, for starters, I was here for thirty minutes and she never spoke to me, not even after you got here and she started a conversation with you. You, not me. She looked at you and complimented your daughter. And she asked where you found me and how lucky you are to have someone bilingual.”

Suddenly, it all hit Alex. “Ohhh that’s why she wanted to know where I found you. Fuck! How did I not see that?”

Maggie was quiet for a minute before responding.

“I think there’s a lot you don’t see.”  
Alex was taken by surprise by the comment. “What do you mean?”

Maggie sighed. “Look, it’s easy for someone in your position to do. You spent your entire life as an upper middle class white girl, and straight, or so you thought until relatively recently. It’s easy to overlook casual bigotry when you haven’t spent your whole life being on the receiving end of it.”

Alex said nothing as the weight of the words hit her. 

“You’re right.” She moved closer to Maggie and took her hand in her own. “You’re right. I see the world through my own eyes. But I want to do better. I want to see the world through your eyes, too, as much as I can.”

A pause. “So why did you just let her get away with it?”

Maggie looked back out across the playground.

“If I argued with every racist, sexist, classist, homophobic asshole I met, I’d never do anything else.”

“So how do you decide when to?”

Maggie sighed. “I don’t know. When I’m in a good mood, I tend to let it go. When I’m in a bad mood, I usually find that I can’t. I’m sure it’s different for other people, but that’s what I do.”

“Well,” Alex began. “I guess I need to get better at recognizing it, to start. And then we need to figure out the best way to respond.”

“I think part of it is that people don’t always know we’re a couple. Then they start making racist assumptions and it spirals from there.”

“Well maybe we need to start setting people straight more often. Maybe they’ll think before making the same kinds of assumptions about other people.”

Maggie nodded soberly. “Maybe. Sometimes I get tired of being the one teaching clueless people. But either way, we should figure it out before Elena notices. We can’t let her get caught in the middle of it.” 

They gathered their daughter and walked to the car when Alex noticed the woman in the car next to theirs.

“Look, she’s still here. I’m going to say something to her.”

Maggie grabbed her arm. “No, Alex. I appreciate your righteous indignation on my behalf but Elena is right here and honestly I’m not in the mood to argue with her right now. I just want to spend a nice day with my family.”

Alex nodded and watched Maggie strap Elena into her car seat. Then she caught the attention of the woman in her car, waving to her with a big smile before pushing Maggie against the hood of their car and kissing her senselessly. She pulled back and looked at the woman whose mouth was hanging open with a shocked look on her face. Alex gave her a wink.

“There’s one assumption down,” she said, turning back to Maggie and smiling. “Come on, let’s get ice cream.”

**Author's Note:**

> Say hi on tumblr @all-the-gay-feels


End file.
